Waymo is scaling up; they’ve closed a USD $5.6bn investment round, led by Alphabet. This funding aims to accelerate the growth of Waymo One ride-hailing services and improve the Waymo Driver. Waymo is still very cautious with its expansion, but things look as though they could become profitable perhaps in the next 2-3 years.
Every month the number of customer rides is increasing. At the end of October this past, the figure reached 150,000 rides per week, half again as much as in September (when there were 100,000 per week). JD Power just released a study showing that consumer confidence is growing among those who have ridden in a robotaxi. So in this issue of your DVN-Lidar Newsletter you’ll find broad, deep coverage of the effect of robotaxis on lidar market growth.
You’ll also find production data from Robosense and HIMA (Huawei’s ‘smar’t driving & lidar activity) which show lidar is still ramping up in China for NOA applications. And there’s the finalized docket for the Lidar Conference coming in about two weeks’ time.
Upcoming DVN-Lidar Events 2024-25:
- Lidar Conference (Wiesbaden) 18-19 November
- Lidar Deep Dive II (Stuttgart) 8-9 April
- Lidar Tech Expo (Hangzhou) 4-6 June (DVN co-hosts with Enmore)
- Lidar Deep Dive III (Detroit) 9-10 September (combined with DVN Lighting Workshop)
We’re ever so glad you’re here with us in the DVN-Lidar community. Enjoy this 32nd newsletter!
All best,
Alain Servel
DVN LIDAR ADVISOR